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BRAZOS COUNTY A&M CLUB: will have a monthly meeting at noon at the
Alumni Center. Call Barbara at 776-2053 for reservations.
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: will have a general discussion at noon. Call
the C.D.P.E. at 845-0280 for more information.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ORGANIZATION: will have a prayer meeting at 7 p.m, in
the Meditation room.
COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: will have the first summer meeting at 8:30 p.m. in
404 Rudder. Call Scot at 846-8153 for more information.
KANM STUDENT RADIO: will have a T-shirt sale and various items to give
away from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the MSC.
CHI ALPHA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: will have a weekly meeting at 8 p.m. at
the Chi Alpha house. Call Steve at 846-3119 for more information.
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT STAFF: will have a presenta
tion by Gloria Schwind at noon in 302 Rudder. For more information
contact Kathy at 845-5360.
Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald,
no later than three business days before the desired run date. We only publish
the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What’s Up is
a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are run
on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. If you
have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315.
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas isn’t prepared to han
dle millions of gallons of oil that could be spilled
in the Gulf of Mexico by a supertanker blazing
offshore, the state land commissioner says.
“This is our worst nightmare,” said Commis
sioner Garry Mauro, who serves on the Gover
nor’s Oil Spill Advisory Committee. “We’re not
ready to deal with a catastrophic oil spill off the
coast.”
As of midday Monday, the Coast Guard esti
mated the tanker Mega Borg had spilled up to
100,000 gallons of her 38 million-gallon cargo of
light crude oil.
A new oil release kept firefighters from smoth
ering the blaze with foam Monday, and the ship’s
stern began to slide beneath the waves. The
Norwegian ship has been on fire since an explo
sion on board while it was transferring cargo Sat
urday 57 miles southeast of Galveston.
Response was delayed while firefighting and
oil containment equipment was brought in from
Louisiana, Alabama and even Holland over the
weekend, Coast Guard officials said. They had
hoped contractors could begin the foaming Sun
day.
At a news conference Monday, Coast Guard
Adm. Williams Merlin said private salvage and
containment companies responding to the fire
had “pre-deployed” equipment elsewhere be
cause there are more offshore fires in the North
Sea and the Middle East than in the Gulf of Mex
ico.
There is little of the specialized equipment in
the world, he said, and the Coast Guard does not
determine its availability. The Coast Guard su
pervises such clean-ups, but they usually are paid
“T
I his is our worst nightmare.
We’re not ready to deal with a
catastrophic oil spill off the coast.”
—Garry Mauro,
land commissioner
for by vessel owners who hire private contractors
to do the work.
“This is free enterprise at work,” Merlin said.
“The salvage companies that operate in this area
find more business overseas than they do here.
“We would love to have all that right here im
mediately available, but perhaps it’s a testimonial,
the fact that we have so few of these types of
things that the worldwide salvage companies
have chosen not to pre-deploy equipment to the
Houston area.”
The Coast Guard is satisfied the owner of the
vessel, Mosvolds Shipping of Farsund, Norway, is
acting responsibly and professionally. Merlin
said.
Mauro criticized the state for failing to have a
written plan for dealing with such disasters,
“There is no plan to deal with 38 million gal
lons of oil on the water,” Mauro said. “Anything
that happens to deal with this crisis is going to be
a make-do emergency plan, and the chances of a
major catastrophe occurring are much higher as
a result of no plan.”
But other state officials say the response has
gone well so far.
“Time and good weather have been on our
side,” said Texas Emergency Management Coor
dinator Robert Tansford.
Buck Wynne, chairman of the Texas Water
Commission, said the state can better respond to
shipping disasters thanks to a recent drill that
simulated a 200,000-gallon oil spill in the Gulf.
“Hopefully, we’ve identified problems in coor
dinating a response to a major oil spill,” said
Wynne, whose agency is part of a regional re
sponse team that also includes the U.S. Coast
Guard and other federal agencies.
“I think we are as ready as we can be,” he said.
Mauro said Texas deals well with small spills
but is not ready for a large one.
Environmentalists warn oil spill
threatens shellfish, bird colonies
HOUSTON (AP) — Oil leaking from the fire-rav
aged Mega Borg supertanker could seriously harm deli
cate shellfish and devastate bird colonies if it invades
the bays on the Gulf of Mexico, environmentalists
warned Monday.
The rear end of the crippled supertanker slipped be
neath the water Monday afternoon, raising fears the
burning vessel could sink and spill the 38 million gal
lons of the light crude oil it is carrying, Coast Guard of
ficials said.
“Under the current set of circumstances offshore,
they have a major problem. This is a lot of oil offshore,”
said Roy Hann, a Texas A&M environmental engi
neering professor who is in Galveston monitoring the
tanker fire.
Hann said in a worst-case scenario, the oil would in
vade the area estuaries where fish eggs hatch and bird
colonies nest. That, he said, “would be a major disas
ter.”
Houston Audubon Society President Gary Clark
agreed. “This couldn’t have happened at a worse time
of year,” he said.
“In mid-June the immediate consequences on breed
ing birds would be devastating,” Clark said. “It could
wipe out the brown pelican.”
Clark called the Central Texas coast “probably the
most sensitive bird breeding area in the United States.”
The light crude would be more devastating over the
short-term, whereas heavy crude, which sinks to the
ocean bottom, would have a long-term impact, Clark
said.
But the light crude is especially dangerous to birds
because it floats on the water, he said.
“Just a slight ingestion of light crude could kill nu
merous birds,” he said. “Our primary concern is the di
rection of the oil spill.”
If the oil spills, it’s projected to hit the central coast
area between Freeport and Corpus Christi.
“This is breeding season for many wading birds who
breed on islands out there in the bay,” Clark said. “If it
got into the (Galveston) bay, it could be disastrous. If it
gets into estuaries that are breeding places for birds as
well as fish, ... it could devastate some of the breeding
colonies.”
Pat Rogers, who owns the Seafood Warehouse in
Galveston and a fleet of shrimp boats said any oil that
might make it to the bottom could kill the shrimp.
“This is a critical time for the brown shrimp because
they’re leaving the estuary areas for the Gulf,” Rogers
said. “It couldn’t be any more critical than what it is
right now.”
Brown and white shrimp are the two species most of
ten found in restaurants, and major populations of the
species are found in the area of the burning tanker,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
The Coast Guard said Monday there was a slick
about one mile long north of the Mega Borg and an
other about 15 miles long to the south. A sheen on the
water around the ship appeared to be covering an area
about 5 miles by 7 miles Monday afternoon.
Officials dropped a dispersant on the spilled oil and
made plans to put foam on the fire.
Authorities
relate Valdez
to Mega Borg
Associated Press
The supertanker burning in
the Gulf of Mexico carried more
than three times the oil spilled by
the Exxon Valdez off Alaska last
year. But authorities said that if
the Mega Borg sank, it might not
cause as big a catastrophe.
Two key differences: the Mega
Borg’s cargo was light crude,
which disperses much more rap
idly than the heavy crude carried
by the Exxon Valdez; and fire is
consuming the Mega Borg’s oil.
The Exxon Valdez spilled
nearly 11 million gallons of oil —
about one-fifth of the 987-foot
ship’s cargo — when it ran ag
round on Bligh Reef in Prince
William Sound, 25 miles from the
port of Valdez, on March 24,
1989.
The Mega Borg was carrying
38 million gallons of light crude
when it was wracked by explo
sions and fire on Saturday about
57 miles southeast of Galveston.
At first, little oil spilled, but five
powerful explosions Sunday sent
blazing crude pouring into the
Gulf.
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REGISTER NOW FOR SUMMER 1990 WORKSHOPS
DANCE
eservts
ain the
I. Each
lumber
'ampvs
Beg. Country 4t Western Dance:
Wed. June 20. 27 July 11, 18. 25
6- 7:15pm
‘tStttiwti-y & Western Dance:
Wed. June 20. 27 July 11, 18, 25
7:30-8:45pm
$20/student
Beginning Jitterbug:
Mon. June 18, 25, July 2. 9, 16
7- 8:15pm
$18/student
Mon. June 18, 25, July 2, 9, 16
8:30-9:45pm
$18/student
Ballroom Dancing:
Tues. June 26, July 3, 10. 17, 24
7:15-8:30pm
$18/student
EXERCISE ARTS
Yoga:
June 19 -July 19
30-9:30pm
M/W, July 9 - Aug 8
8:30 - 9:30pm
$22/student
Tae kwon do:
M/W, June 25 - Aug 6
7-8:30pm
$33/student
Tai Chi Chuan:
T/Th, June 19 - July 26
6-7pm
$2 2/student
Practical Self Defense:
M/W, June 25 - Aug 6
6- 7pm
$22/student
PHOTOGRAPHY
The Visual Art Of Photography:
Thurs. July 19, 26 Aug 2, 9
7- 9pm
$18/student
Studio Portraiture:
T/Th, June 26, 28 July 3, 5
6-9pm
$22/student
Beginning BA W Darkroom:
Saturday June 23, 30 July 7
9am- 12noon
Wed. July 11. 18, 25
6-9pm
$28/student
SPECIAL INTEREST
Plan Your Own Wedding:
Mon. June 25 July 2, 9, 16
6- 8pm
$22 class fee
Auto Mechanics:
T/Th. July 3. 5. 17. 19, 24
7- 9pm
$18/student
Bike Maintenance:
Tues. June 19, 26 July 3, 10
7-9pm (6-10pm last class)
Tues. July 17. 24. 31. Aug 7
7-9pm (6-10pm last class)
$20/student
Kids Can Cook:
T/Th, July 10. 12. 17. 19
10am- 12noon
$28 Class fee
Herb Gardening:
T/Th. June 19. 21, 26, 28
7-9pm
$15/student
Star Gazing:
T/Th. June 19 - July 12
8:30- 10:30pm
$30/student
Beginning Guitar:
M/W, June 18 - July 16
7:30-9pm
Thurs. June 21 - Aug 9
7-8:30pm
$30/nonstudent
Intermediate Guitar:
Thurs. June 21 - Aug 9
8:30-10pm
$30/student
Basics of Investing:
Tues. July 10. 17. 24, 31 Aug 7
7:30-9pm
$ 16/student
Accounting for Small Business:
Tues. July 3 - Aug 7
6- 8pm
$2 5/student
Business Etiquette For Sucess:
Tues. July 17. 24, 31 Aug 7
7- 9pm
$ 15/student
Interviewing:
T/Th. June 19. 21
6:30-8pm
M/W. July 16, 18
6:30-8pm
$8/student
PLUS
Register Now in the Craft Center
MSC Basement
845-1631
( Nonstudent class fees are $2 higher than posted )
SELF HELP
Assertiveness Training:
Thurs. June 21, 28 July 5. 12
7:30-9pm
Food for Fitness:
Mon. June 18, 25, July 2
6:30-8pm
Self Evaluation:
Tues. June 19, 26
6-9pm
$8/student
Personality Enhancement:
Tues. July 10. 17, 24
6-9pm
$18/student
Stress Management:
Wed. June 20. 27 July 11
6:30-8pm
Wed. July 18. 25 Aug 1
6:30-8pm
$12 Class fee
First Aid:
Thurs, July 19, 26 Aug 2, 9
6-8pm
$22/student
CPR:
T/Th. June 19. 21
6-10pm
M/W, July 16. 18
6-10pm
T/Th. Aug 7, 9
6-10pm
$18/student
IBM COMPUTERS
WordPerfect 5.0:
M/W, June 18 - July 11
6-7:30pm
M/W, June 18 - July 11
8-9:30pm
M/W. July 16 - Aug 8
6-7:30pm
M/W, July 16 - Aug 8
8-9:30pm
$40 Class fee
Lotus 1-2-3:
M/W. July 9. 11. 16. 18, 23. 25
6:30-9pm
$40 Class fee
MACINTOSH
Intro to Mac Computers:
T/Th. June 19. 21
6-7:45pm
T/Th. July 17. 19
6-7:45pm
$20/student
Macintosh Word Processing:
T/Th. June 26, 28, July 3
6-7:45pm
T/Th. July 24.26.31
6-7:45pm
$20/student
ARTS & CRAFTS
Stained Glass:
Wed. June 20 - July 25
6-9pm
Thurs. July 12 - Aug 9
6-9pm
$28/ student
Water col or:
Tues, June 19 - July 24
6:30-9pm
$28/student
Etched Glass:
Mon. July 2 or Mon. July 23
6-9pm
$12/student
Jewelry Casting Seminar:
Sat. & Sun. July 21 & July 22
9am-12noon & l-4pm each day
$40/student
Cake Decorating:
Wed. Aug 1. 8
6- 9pm
$22 Class fee
Matting A Framing:
Sat. June 23, 30 July 7, 14
9-1 lam
Wed. July 18. 25 Aug 1. 8
7- 9pm
$2 5/student
Calligraphy:
Tues. June 19 - July 31
7-9pm
$26/student
Knitting:
Mon. July 9, 16, 23, 30. Aug 6
6-9pm
$35 class fee
Counted Cross Stitch:
Wed. June 20, 27 July 11. 18
6:30-8pm
$12 class fee
Sewing:
Wed. July 11. 18. 25 Aug 1. 8
6-9pm
$35 class fee
Smocking:
Mon. July 16, 23. 30 Aug 6
6-9pm
$24/ class fee
Pottery - Wheel Throwing:
Wed. June 20 - Aug 1
7:30-9:30pm
Thurs. June 21 - July 26
7:30-9:30pm
Mon. June 25 - July 30
7:30-9:30pm
$28/student
WOODWORKING
Beginning Woodworking:
Tues. June 19. 26 July 3. 10
6-8:30pm
Thurs. July 19. 26 Aug 2, 9
6-8:30pm
$30/student
Intermediate Woodworking:
Sunday July 15. 22, 29 Aug 5
6-8:30pm
$30/student
LANGUAGES
American Sign Language:
T/Th, June 19-July 19
6-8pm
$35/student
Conversational Chinese:
6:30-8pm
$35/student
English as a 2nd Language
T/Th, June 26 - Aug 2
8-9:30pm
$40/student
Conversational French:
T/Th, June 19 - July 26
6:30-8pm
$3 5/student
Conversational Italian:
T/Th, June 19 - July 26
6:30-8pm
$3 5/student
Conversational Japanese
T/Th, June 26 - Aug 2
6:30-8pm
$35/ student
Conversational Russian:
M/W, June 25 - Aug 6
6:30-8pm
$3 5/student
Conversational Spanish:
M/W. June 18 - Aug 1
6:30-8pm
T/Th, June 19 - Aug 2
6:30-8pm
$3 5/student
Intermediate Spanish:
M/W. June 18 - Aug 1
8-9:30pm
$3 5/student
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